


Prince of the Oni

by Nation_Ustria



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Author Is Sleep Deprived, How Do I Tag, Lloyd Garmadon Angst, Lloyd Garmadon Centric, Lloyd Garmadon Needs a Hug, Misunderstandings, Mystery, No Slash, Oni Lloyd, Oni Lloyd Garmadon, Portals, Post Hunted, Royalty, Secrets, The Author Regrets Nothing, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29426385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nation_Ustria/pseuds/Nation_Ustria
Summary: Lloyd’s confused when he wakes up in the middle of the forest that surrounds the monastery. He certainly didn’t go to sleep there.Then it happens again.Then, on the night of both a new moon and the winter solstice, something . . .elsehappens to him.**Now with a second chapter—will be changed to be marked as incomplete upon the posting of the third.
Relationships: Cole & Lloyd Garmadon & Kai & Nya & Jay Walker & Zane
Comments: 23
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh okay so I promise that I’m working on my WIPs like From a Laboratory and others, I’ll (hopefully) have updates for them soon.
> 
> So for this fic, I legit sat down with my laptop and the idea of “one of the ninja wakes up and doesn’t remember how they got where they are”, and somehow that turned into this. I’m not exactly sure how.
> 
> Mandatory apologies for typos
> 
> Enjoy!

It was bright— _very_ bright. Lloyd grimaced, squinting against the light as he pushed himself up. Was he . . . in the forest? It looked like he was in the forest, the early morning sun filtering through the thin, bare trees and turning the sky a weak blue.

What the heck?

Lloyd climbed to his feet, moving carefully as every muscle in his body was protesting. He was cold and stiff, and a mixture of dirt and half-decayed leaves stuck to the side of him where he’d been laying on the ground. Lloyd brushed them off, grimacing as some of the leaves left wet marks on his cheeks.

O-kay. So, he definitely was in the forest.

How?

Lloyd thought back, but the last thing he remembered was collapsing in bed—in his actual bed, in his bedroom, in the monastery. Definitely not out here. Although, he did remember that he hadn’t changed out of his gi. Lloyd wasn’t exactly sure how that was relevant, but the fact that he was still wearing it was definitely helpful. Getting back to the monastery would _not_ have been fun in his pajamas.

There was still the question as to how, exactly, he’d gotten out here—but unless the answer was planning on presenting itself, it didn’t look like he was going to find out soon. Lloyd couldn’t see any indication of _anyone_ —himself or otherwise—having been anywhere in the area around him.

Maybe he’d sleptwalked?

Lloyd huffed out a breath, then trudged to the nearest tree. He pulled a shuriken from one of the pouches on his belt—he fumbled it for a moment, his fingers stiff and cold—and gently scratched a star into the bark. 

“Sorry,” Lloyd mumbled. He didn’t like having to harm the tree—he didn’t like harming any living thing, really—but if he came back to investigate later he’d need to be able to identify the exact spot. 

Lloyd slipped the shuriken back into his belt and pivoted, peering through the trees to find the Mountain of a Thousand Steps. Thankfully, the cliffs that made up its sides weren’t too far off.

Lloyd ran his hand over his head, sighing. First a night in the forest, and now a hike and then climbing up that freaking staircase. Yipee.

*****

Lloyd had nearly forgotten about the whole waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-woods thing when it happened again. He woke up suddenly this time, blinking as the very first rays of sunlight peeked over the mountains to shine in his face. 

Lloyd groaned, more out of annoyance than discomfort. He actually wasn’t as cold or as stiff as he’d been last time, which didn’t really make much sense as it was weeks—a month? Yeah, a month—later. It’d only gotten colder as the nights had gotten longer.

 _Freaking winter,_ Lloyd silently grumbled as he climbed to his feet. He was still in his gi—again—which was fortunate, and just like last time there was no sign of anyone having been around. There probably would have been if it had snowed like the weather report had said it was supposed to the last few days, but the weather had been stubborn.

Oh, look, there was the star he’d carved last time.

Lloyd sighed, pushing his hair out of his face. He now had to admit that this was _weird_. One incident, he could brush off as some sort of freaky fluke, but twice? That was a different ball game. Especially since Lloyd really doubted that he’d slept walked down a mountain and to a specific point in the middle of the woods, once or twice.

What was the alternative, though? That someone had kidnapped him from his bedroom just to leave him in the woods?

Actually, his siblings just might. It was a fairly lame prank, as pranks went, but it was definitely effective. Both instances made his list of top ten most disorienting wake-ups, and that was saying something.

As Lloyd trudged back to the monastery, he cursed his siblings under his breath. Of course they had to do this to him the mornings after he’d burnt himself out—there’d been attacks on Ninjago City both days, leaving him completely exhausted and extremely sore. It’d been why he’d gone to bed without changing—

Lloyd froze.

Hang on.

He . . . wasn’t sore anymore. Well, his legs were burning, as were his lungs, but that was because he was halfway up the freaking endless staircase that led to the monastery. Besides that, he felt perfectly fine—which shouldn’t be possible.

Bruises and muscle strains didn’t heal _that_ quickly, not even for him.

But somehow, Lloyd found after a quick examination, they had. 

What the heck?

Lloyd forced himself to keep moving. He ended up swearing under his breath a few more times before he actually reached the top, and he paused to let himself catch his breath before he slipped back into the monastery.

Even though they all had separate rooms, now, there was an unspoken agreement among him and his siblings to leave their doors open a crack when they were sleeping. That way, it felt less intrusive when one of them needed another—whether because they needed to talk or because they had a nightmare or something else entirely. They were all close, too, taking three bedrooms on each side of the hallway. Lloyd peeked through the cracks as he passed. His siblings were all still asleep—even Zane, which was something of a surprise. Well, less of a surprise considering how beaten up they’d gotten the day before.

Which only made Lloyd’s situation all the weirder, because A, he shouldn’t be awake or feeling as good as he did now, and B, because there was no way that his siblings had bothered to deposit him in the middle of the woods, not after yesterday.

Lloyd slipped into his bedroom, settling on his bed and digging his phone out from where it’d fallen between the mattress and the wall. He turned it on, opening the calendar app and creating a private event with a star emoji on today’s date. Then, he scrolled back to the last time this had happened out of bored curiosity.

Lloyd blinked, then scrolled back to today, comparing.

Both nights he’d ended up in the woods had been new moons.

Huh.

Lloyd didn’t know if it was just a coincidence or actually significant, but he clicked through the days to the next new moon—which happened to fall on the winter solstice.

A shiver ran down Lloyd’s spine, confusing him. There was literally _no_ significance attached to the winter solstice, so why . . . ?

Lloyd turned his phone off, tossing it to the side and sprawling across his blankets. If it happened again, he’d tell Sensei Wu about it. There was still the chance that it wouldn’t, although what that chance was, Lloyd had no idea because he knew exactly nothing about whatever the heck was happening. Still, there was a chance. And how did that old saying go? That twice is only a coincidence, but three times made a pattern? Something like that. 

Besides, it wasn’t like anything had actually _happened_. He’d just ended up in the forest. Somehow.

Lloyd dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. Who knew, maybe it was something funky going on with his powers. 

He’d ask Sensei if it happened again. Until then, there was no reason to worry about it.

*****

“Are you sure you’re alright, Lloyd?” Nya asked. Again.

Lloyd sighed, lifting his head from where it’d been comfortably buried in his arms. “I’m _fine_ , Nya. I’m just a little tired.”

“More than a little,” Cole countered. “You’ve been asleep on your feet all day.”

Lloyd shot a flat glare at him across the kitchen table. “I have _not_ been aslee—” He was sabotaged by a yawn, which made his siblings chuckle. He repaid them with his best wounded puppy expression.

“Seriously though,” Cole said, “You should take a nap or something.”

“Or even just go to bed,” Nya suggested. “The sun sets in like twenty minutes.”

“Which is totally wrong. It’s like four o’clock,” Lloyd grumbled, resting his chin on his arms. “The sun shouldn’t set this early.”

Nya chuckled. “Welcome to the winter solstice.”

Lloyd blinked. It was the winter solstice? Already?

_Tonight?_

Kai swung into the room—quite literally swung, grabbing the door frame and swinging himself in, hanging from it at an angle. “Anyone know when Sensei’s getting back?”

“He left?” Nya and Cole asked at the same time.

Kai raised his eyebrows. “I’ll take that as a no. Lloyd?”

Lloyd shook his head. He also hadn’t known that Sensei had left—and somehow, learning about that fact made his chest tighten.

Kai sighed. “Right. I’ll keep looking for Zane, then.”

“I think he went out for groceries,” Nya said.

“Seriously? Well, do you think Jay—”

“Nope,” Cole answered. “He’s been holed up in his workshop since we finished training.”

“Well, that’s _great_. Guess I’ll just wait for Zane to get back, then.” With that, he left.

Lloyd took a deep breath, trying to sooth the anxiety building in his chest. He really shouldn’t be getting anxious—Sensei being gone didn’t affect anything. Lloyd had been planning to go to him _after_ he woke up in the forest again— _if_ he woke up in the forest again. Nothing had really changed.

“Lloyd?” Nya asked, sounding concerned.

Lloyd stood. “I’m going to go outside,” he decided.

“In the literal dead of winter?” Cole asked.

“Wanna feel the sun,” Lloyd half-explained, already leaving the room. It was a legitimate answer—after being the ultimate spinjitzu master, he’d always felt more comfortable in the sunlight than anywhere else. Electric lighting wasn’t _bad_ , per se, it was just less . . . rich. Lacking. And the dark . . .

Lloyd had never been the most comfortable in the dark. At Darkley’s, darkness had given his schoolmates the opportunity to hurt him, one way or another, and had forced the responsibility on him to do the same to them. It was expected, after all. After that, darkness had meant that he was alone, that he was completely vulnerable to anyone who may come across him.

Then darkness had belonged to the Overlord. He’d covered the world in it, until Lloyd had been the last bit of light in the darkness.

Lloyd had had to push it all back himself, to quite literally _become_ the light of the world. To restore balance, putting light and shadow, day and night back where they belonged. Because that’s what Ninjago was all about, really: balance.

And then the Overlord had come back and wrecked that entire concept.

Since then, Lloyd had disliked the dark mostly because it made nightmares harder to manage if he woke up in it. The nightmares about Darkley’s had long since faded away, as had most of the nightmares about the Overlord, surprisingly enough. Most of his nightmares now were about Morro or time travel or _her_ , occasionally sprinkled with the unexplainable nightmare about pirates in the sky.

Lloyd slipped out of the monastery, carefully picking his way along the thin, rocky edge of the mountain along the wall to the side that faced the setting sun. He settled himself as best he could on the rocks, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees, ignoring the way his breath puffed out in front of him.

The sunset was beautiful. Of course, it pretty much always was—you couldn’t really get a better sunset than from the top of a mountain—but tonight it seemed to set the sky on fire. Streaks of orange and red and a color that almost looked gold twined between the mountain tops in the distance, dominating the sky as if the sun was fighting against its fall. It was fighting a losing battle, though; an inky indigo was slowly eating at the edge of the colors, creeping across the sky so slowly that it barely seemed to move—except it actually was moving quite quickly, the sun’s reach halving in minutes, the brilliant reds and golds receding.

Lloyd closed his eyes, focusing on the feeling of the sunlight on his skin. It was warm and comfortable, familiar in the same way that made a building home.

It was also fading.

Lloyd opened his eyes just as the last sliver of the sun slipped behind the mountains. 

The sun’s time in the sky was over, as was natural. Nighttime had begun its rightful reign.

Lloyd sighed, but he didn’t move to go back inside. Instead he watched the colors fade, the last remnants of the sun’s presence get wiped from the sky.

When the indigo finally reached the horizon, Lloyd decided that it was time to go inside. He climbed to his feet carefully—he couldn’t really see the ground anymore—and reached for the wall of the monastery to steady himself. Once he was certain that he had steady footing, Lloyd looked back at the sky one last time.

Wait a minute.

Why weren’t there any stars?

Lloyd leaned away from the wall, trying to see more of the sky. It was normal for stars to take longer to appear on the western horizon, but this was different—he could see almost half the sky—

And it was _black_.

It was as if someone had stolen the stars from the sky.

Lloyd stared for so long that he could almost imagine that the sky was falling, that the blackness was going to blanket the world.

He really should go inside.

Lloyd had just torn his gaze away and fixed it on the ground that he couldn’t really see in front of him when something—something _happened_.

To _him_.

It was like his bones had been one large tuning fork, and that it had been struck—a shiver ran through him, so intense that he had to lean against the wall to keep from falling over. 

And he _changed_. His body responded to the vibration, to the note ringing through him—his senses sharpened, the world becoming crisp and sharp, and then fire was burning through his body, hot and cold and _painful_ but also comforting at the same time. It overwhelmed him until there was nothing else, just him and the fire and the pain and the _change_.

When it finally faded, Lloyd found himself on his knees. Jagged edges of the rock below him was digging into his skin, but it didn’t hurt, not like it should have. It was almost as if the edges had been dulled. Except that Lloyd knew that they hadn’t. They were as sharp as everything else he was experiencing—the feeling of the stone wall under one hand, rough and old and worn, the sound of his family past the wall, voices and footsteps and motion, the smell of stone and dust and age and _time_ , so powerful that Lloyd could taste it.

Slowly, Lloyd opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was that he could see. He could see his legs, see the seams and weave of his jeans, see the jagged angles and facets of the rock below him. It was different than it’d been before—there wasn’t much color, Lloyd realized after a few moments. But he could see, and when he looked up it continued to be true—he could see the wall of the monastery, the tree that stood near the top of the steps, see the mountains in the distance. The darkness wasn’t hiding any of it anymore.

Something in Lloyd’s peripheral caught his attention—something dark, where there should have been a lighter tone. Lloyd turned and looked at it.

It was his hand. Except, it also wasn’t. It was his, but it wasn’t as it had been before.

It was black. Black, with each finger tipped in a claw that was just as dark.

Lloyd held both of his hands up in front of him, examining them. His skin seemed to have the same texture as it had had before until it reached about where his fingernails would have begun. There, the texture went smooth and hard, his fingers tapering off into a needle-sharp point. Lloyd curled his fingers, and a jagged ridge emerged from the bottom of each of the claws, running from his fingers to the points. He flexed his hand, straightening his fingers, and they vanished.

There was a small part of Lloyd’s mind, far back in the corner, that told him that he should be horrified at what he was seeing.

But in reality, he was perfectly content.

It felt _right_.

There was something—a sound? No, not a sound, it was different. He didn’t have a word for what it was, but he could _feel_ it. It touched the same chord inside of him, the one that had made him change.

It was calling him.

And Lloyd obeyed.

He slipped off the edge of the mountain, letting himself fall. It was a long way down, but it went a lot faster than coming up, and soon Lloyd was doing airjitzu to soften his landing. He landed in a crouch, scanning the forest in front of him—there was something, shining between the trees and drawing his attention away from the musty smell of the forest floor. Whatever was calling him was in the same direction.

Lloyd crept towards it silently, careful not to disturb the ground beneath him. The sense of something calling him got stronger as he got closer, and it felt _good_. The chord inside of him was humming happily.

Eventually, the shining thing came into view. It was a patch of ground, perfectly circular, light shining out of it in a stunning beam—well, not ‘light’. It was the closest word that Lloyd had, because it looked like light—except it was black, darker than anything Lloyd had ever seen. It wasn’t actually dark, though. Instead of absorbing and concealing, it was quite literally shining outwards. Like . . . black light.

And it was calling him.

Lloyd scanned the forest around him, confirming that there was no one else nearby. As he did, he spotted the tree marked with a star on the far side of the circle of black light.

Satisfied that no one was watching, Lloyd stepped into the circle.

The black light bled into his body, filling him with—with something. It wasn’t warm or cold, but it was comfortable in the way that warmth was and vivid in the same way that cold was. It felt . . . right. Natural.

It made him feel alive.

The forest faded, and what replaced it was absolutely breathtaking. It was impossible to describe, because Lloyd had never seen anything like it before—going by shape alone, it seemed like a barren, rocky landscape, but the _colors_. Every rock was shining with a different color that Lloyd had never seen, glimmering like jewels. The sky was covered in deep purple clouds, but occasionally the sky would shine through in the same way the circle he’d stepped into had been shining—dark and absolutely _beautiful_.

There was someone standing a dozen feet away from him. Their stance was relaxed, their hands gently held flat against their legs. They—no, _he_ had black skin and claws, just as Lloyd did. Lloyd couldn’t tell how similar they looked otherwise, though, having not seen himself as he was currently. The person in front of him had fangs that curved out of his mouth, resting against his lip, and facial markings in one of the new colors that Lloyd couldn’t name. He was wearing an elegant outfit that seemed to be as suited to fighting as to casual wear, a sort of tunic and leggings combination, the dazzlingly colored cloth it was made out of studded with smooth black stones that reflected the colors of the rocks around them. The helmet he was wearing had short, stylized horns protruding from it, and while the helmet was crafted from the same black stone that adorned his outfit, it was intricately decorated with many of the new colors in some sort of paint.

The person knelt, tucking his hands between his thighs and calves as he bowed his head.

“Welcome, my Prince.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I never actually explained how Lloyd ended up in the forest those two time. He _did_ basically sleepwalk there, as he was following his Oni instincts as they started to wake up (he hadn’t transformed or anything).


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I legit don't remember how much about the Oni they knew prior to March of the Oni, so whatever that amount was I changed it to Not Very Much. Also I forgot that Mystake exists, so :/ Guess she doesn't in the fic.
> 
> Lemme know if there's anything in here that's confusing, it is kinda infodumpish
> 
> The sections in italics are flashbacks of the night before, if that's not totally clear, and they're not in order
> 
> Enjoy!

Lloyd grunted as the air was knocked out of his lungs. There was that long, painful moment when he couldn’t breathe, then he was gasping for air, rolling onto his side.

“Alright,” Kai said, crouching in front of him. “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?” Lloyd asked breathlessly, pushing himself up. His vision blurred, so he paused for a moment to let it clear.

“I _mean_ that your head’s been somewhere else the entire morning. What’s distracting you, green bean?”

Lloyd stood, shrugging as nonchalantly as he could. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

Kai folded his arms as he straightened, giving Lloyd a flat look. “Uh-huh, like I’m gonna believe that. Spill.”

Lloyd hesitated. He _could_ tell Kai—tell him what had happened last night, an event so surreal that Lloyd would think that he had dreamt it if it weren’t for the fact that now sunlight made his skin prickle uncomfortably. It was that last bit that had been distracting him all morning, the way the feeling appeared and vanished as various parts of his body moved from direct sunlight into shadow and back again. 

_“The changes will be gradual,” Lastik said evenly, giving Lloyd time to process, “but eventually, your natural form will be just as Oni as it is Human. Until that point, however, your visible species will be dictated by the cycles of your world—Human when the land is light, and Oni when it is dark. Well, generally speaking. Your world is much more attuned to light than to darkness, which means that unless it is a new moon, the transformation will only occur if you direct it to.”_

_“If I direct it to?”_

_Lastik nodded. “You will have to activate the transformation yourself. Tapping into Oni instincts or magic are the simplest methods. For the immediate time being, however, I advise that you keep your transformations to a minimum—your body needs time to change and adjust.”_

_That made sense. “You said my ‘visible species’?” Lloyd asked._

_“You are both Oni and Human, and will have the ability to shift between one full-blooded form to the other once your Oni genetics become codominant with your Human ones. Until then you are vulnerable, and your magic—both Human and Oni—will work to protect you by keeping that fact from being known. Why the changes will still occur—and you will feel them occurring—what is actually physically manifested will be kept either strictly Oni or strictly Human, upholding the illusion that you are either one or the other, not both.”_

_“So I look fully Oni right now?”_

_Lastik laughed softly. His laugh sounded more like a growl, just as his voice did, but the actual intention was clear. “You do, although you appear as an adult-shaped child. Many of your key features—your skin markings, your fangs, your horns—have yet to develop. They’ll fill in as your body changes.”_

_“Horns?” Lloyd asked, surprised. Lastik had taken his helmet off earlier, proving that his horns were merely ornamentation._

_“You’re a royal. All royals have horns—that’s why those of us dedicated to serving them wear our own, to show our allegiance. You_ are _young, though, so even once the change is complete they will be fairly small. They will grow larger as you age.”_

_Lloyd processed that. After a long moment, he ventured, “I—there’s a part of me saying that I should be reacting to this more than I am. Well, freaking out, really.”_

_“A natural, logical response,” Lastik agreed. “But reacting as you are is also natural—it’s the Oni side of you. Unlike the physical part of it, your instincts have already kicked in fully. On a subconscious level, you know that what is happening to you is normal.” He paused, his lip curling to flash his teeth for a moment—the Oni version of a grimace. “Although, I’m afraid that the actual changes may not be the most comfortable, despite it being natural. Similar to how Human babies—teeth, is it?”_

_“Yeah.”_

“Lloyd?”

Lloyd blinked, pulling himself out of the memory. He’d worry about that later. Right now, he was trying to figure out if he was telling Kai.

 _Could_ he without sounding like he’d gone absolutely nuts?

Lloyd finally said, “I didn’t sleep much last night.” _Or any. Thank goodness that I’m somehow not tired._ “I’m just a little out of it.”

Kai squinted, probably trying to figure out if Lloyd was lying or not. Lloyd stared back at him, keeping his face blank.

Finally, Kai sighed. “Right. But—”

“Guys, Sensei’s back, and he wants to talk to us,” Jay called from one of the doorways before disappearing back inside.

Across the courtyard, Zane and Cole glanced at each other as they fell out of their sparring stances.

“I didn’t see him come in, did you?” Cole asked Zane, confused.

Zane was frowning. “No, I did not.”

“C’mon, slowpokes!” Nya called, having appeared in the same doorway. “Apparently it’s important.”

Kai groaned. “Twenty bucks says he starts with ‘There’s something I haven’t told you.’”

“No deal,” Cole and Zane chorused.

Lloyd snickered, unconsciously rubbing where the sun was making the back of his neck prickle.

They made their way to Sensei’s room, making a sort of semicircle just inside. Sensei was sitting in his meditation pose, his eyes closed and a cup of non-steaming tea in front of him.

After several long moments of nothing happening, they all started to shift awkwardly, glancing at each other. Cole silently pointed out a streak of grease that was smeared across Jay’s cheek—Jay and Nya had opted out of training in favor of rehauling some of the ninja vehicles—and Jay tried to wipe it off. _Try_ being the key word, as he actually only made it worse. Kai snorted as Nya muffled her giggles with her hand.

Sensei sighed, finally opened his eyes, and they all straightened.

“There is something I haven’t told you.”

Kai and Cole both coughed, Cole’s sounding like strangled laughter and Kai’s sounding suspiciously like “Called it.” Zane, of course, managed to keep a perfectly straight face, and Jay and Nya glanced at each other in confusion. 

Lloyd had to press his lips together to keep himself from laughing.

Unperturbed, Sensei continued as if nothing had happened. “I had hoped that I would never _need_ to tell you all about this—I thought that the line had been destroyed millennia ago, but . . .” Sensei took a deep breath. “It appears that I was wrong. Once again, great evil has awoken.”

Silence fell over the room. Lloyd glanced at the others—each of them glanced back at him in return, their faces sober. Lloyd wondered if they were all feeling the same thing he was—not a sense of dread or any sort of anxiety that should accompany the news, but rather a sort of _here we go again_ feeling.

They weren’t new to this game.

“What is it this time?” Jay asked, sounding as tired as Lloyd felt.

Sensei grimaced. “Oni.”

Lloyd’s blood froze.

“Wait, you mean the same guys that made those freaky masks?” Kai asked in alarm.

“I thought that they were like, dead or something,” Cole added.

“Missing,” Zane corrected. “Their whereabouts are unknown.”

“Are they coming _here_?” Nya asked.

“Do we need to prepare for an invasion?” Cole asked.

Sensei shook his head. “No, no. I’m sorry for alarming you. What we need to be concerned about is merely the evil of a single Oni: the Prince.”

“The what?” all of Lloyd’s siblings asked at the same time.

Lloyd couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be happening, Sensei was talking about _him_ —

“Prince?” Jay chirped, his eyes big.

“I was not aware that the Oni had royalty,” Zane added.

““Royalty” isn’t the most accurate term,” Sensei explained. “The Oni Prince is—well, it’s the most powerful, bloodthirsty, evil Oni of them all. And unfortunately, if it’s allowed to gain strength, it _will_ lead the Oni against us.”

Hang on, _what?_ That—that wasn’t—

_“Why am I here?” Lloyd asked. It was his second question, the first one having just been answered—the Oni in front of him had introduced himself as Lastik._

_“Do you feel out of place?” Lastik asked, standing._

_Lloyd didn’t have to think about his response. “No. But I still don’t know_ why _—well, why all of this. What’s going on?”_

_Lastik directed Lloyd to a set of boulders nearby, both of which were flat-topped and the perfect height for sitting. Once they were both settled, Lastik explained, “You are here because you belong here, your highness. This is the edge of your domain.”_

_Lloyd looked at the glittering rocks around him. “I don’t understand.”_

_Lastik sighed, bringing one of his feet up to rest on the edge of the boulder and resting an arm on his leg. “There’s a lot to explain, I’m afraid. First off might be how I know Ninjagan—”_

_“Do you speak another language?” Lloyd asked, confused._

_Lastik looked taken aback, eyes that shone in a color that Lloyd didn’t have a name for—it was close to purple—widening. “Has so little knowledge of us really survived through the years?”_

_“All I know of the Oni is the masks that they left behind. That_ you _left behind,” Lloyd corrected._

_“No, not us,” Lastik said bitterly. “That was a separate group. Granted, they were still Oni, but in relations to the rest of our kind they were—” He paused, obviously searching for the correct word. “Terrorists.”_

_Lloyd’s stomach turned. “All we know of the Oni is from what they left behind.”_

_“What about your heritage?” Lastik asked. “Surely, Prince Alsti passed down—”_

_“Who?” Lloyd interrupted._

_“Prince Alsti.” When Lloyd continued to look at him blankly, Latik bared his fangs. “Prince Alsti—your grandfather!”_

_“Do you mean the First Spinjitzu Master?”_

_Latik stared at him. “If that’s what the being that created your world—your grandfather—is called, then yes.”_

_Lloyd swallowed. “That’s him.”_

_Lastik blinked, then looked away. There was silence for a few moments, interrupted only by the chiming rumbles that came from the clouds above. The sound was both clashing and not, like wind chimes that had been set to a proper scale._

_Lastik snarled, startling Lloyd, but he was merely poking at the rock he was sitting on with his claws. Finally, he looked back up at Lloyd. “You really don’t know_ anything _, do you?”_

_Lloyd slowly shook his head._

_Lastik looked down, then took off his helmet, revealing hair that was one of the more muted colors that Lloyd didn’t know. Whatever the color was, it matched well with the markings on Lastik’s face. Lastik set the helmet to the side and ran his fingers—claws included—through his hair, pushing it out of his face as he sighed. It was such a familiarly_ human _action, one that Lloyd had seen both Cole and Kai do hundreds of times._

_“Okay,” Lastik said, looking back up at Lloyd. “First off, you should know that I’m probably the only Oni you’ll ever meet who’ll understand Ninjagan, much less speak it. You’re going to need to learn our language.”_

_Lloyd took a deep breath. Another language. Okay. “Does it have a name?”_

_Lastik shrugged. “It’s never needed one. Before Humans, the only other intelligent species we interacted with were the Draik. The dragons. And they communicate telepathically.”_

_Telepathically? Actually, that made sense._

_“So, how_ do _you know Ninjagan?”_

_Lastik pressed his lips together slightly—the Oni equivalent of a small smile. “My mother taught me, as her mother taught her. After Prince Alsti left, it became my family’s responsibility to prepare to help the Heir when they returned.”_

_“The Heir?” Lloyd asked. He already suspected what the answer was, though._

_And he wasn’t sure how he felt about it._

_“The heir to the Oni throne,” Lastik confirmed softly. “Prince Alsti was the last of the line—and now, the responsibility he ran away from has passed down to you.”_

_Lloyd blew out his breath. It was a lot shakier than he meant it to be. “And that means, exactly?”_

_“That you’re going to rule the Oni realm. Not until you’ve learned all you need to, of course, which is why you’re still the Prince despite there not being a current Emperor. But, eventually, you will.”_

_Lloyd closed his eyes._ Ruling _an entire world that he knows nothing about? That’s beyond scary, that’s freaking petrifying._

_And . . ._

_“What about Ninjago?” Lloyd asked, opening his eyes. “There’s people who depend on me—and my family . . .” He trailed off, not exactly sure what he wanted to say. He took a deep breath. “I can’t just leave, so how . . .”_

_“I don’t know,” Lastik said. “My family was responsible for learning the magical and the medical and the linguistic side of things, as well as a little bit of your culture. I know how to help you become an Oni, and for now, that’s all you need to focus on.” Lastik hesitated, then added, “If it helps at all, I_ know _that you’re supposed to rule. Traditionally, rulership was passed down from parent to child, but there were only a few that destiny_ chose _to rule—the ones whose royal power manifested on the night of a new moon and the winter solstice, just as yours have tonight. They were always the best Emperors, the ones who were able to bring peace and prosperity to the people.” There was a brief pause, then Lastik added, “Or Empresses. Why is your language so gender divided?”_

_That made Lloyd laugh. “I don’t know. It shouldn’t be.”_

Peace and prosperity, that was what Lastik had said. Not war and bloodshed. There was the chance that Lastik could have been deceiving him—Lloyd knew he could be blind to people’s ulterior motives, _she_ had taught him that much—but Lloyd certainly didn’t _feel_ evil, much less bloodthirsty.

Where _was_ Sensei getting his information from, anyway?

“So we _do_ need to prepare for an invasion?” Kai asked.

Sensei shook his head. “No. We have a window of opportunity to stop it before it even begins—and a rather lengthy one, at that.”

“That’s a first,” Nya muttered.

“How so?” Cole asked.

Sensei started stroking his beard. “According to the information I’ve gathered, the Oni Prince only awoke last night.”

Lloyd’s heart was pounding in his ears. There was _no_ way that this was going to end up good for him.

“Was that why the stars went out?” Zane asked.

Jay’s attention snapped to him. “Wait, _what?_ ”

Zane frowned slightly. “You didn’t notice?”

“Uh, I didn’t either, so,” Kai volunteered, shifting his weight.

“The Oni Prince needs to gather power before it will be able to open a portal between here and wherever the Oni are located,” Sensei continued. Lloyd raised an eyebrow. Technically, that bit wasn’t wrong—he’d be able to open portals between Ninjago and the Oni realm at will once he had finished “changing”. At least, according to Lastik. “We must deal with it before it has gathered the power it needs.”

 _Say something,_ Lloyd urged himself. But what? ‘Oh, hey, by the way, that’s me, I’m the not-actually evil, bloodthirsty creature we’re talking about killing.’ 

That wouldn’t go over well.

“Why are you calling the Prince an ‘it’?” Nya asked. “If it’s a Prince, shouldn’t it be a ‘him’?”

 _I am most definitely a ‘him’,_ Lloyd agreed.

“Because _it_ is a monster beyond anything we can imagine,” Sensei said darkly. “Even one Oni leaves a river of blood in its wake—I’d rather face the Overlord again, for all his evil, than has to deal with this _Prince_.” He spat the last word, and Lloyd flinched.

Lloyd couldn’t breathe. Had his lungs stopped working? It felt like his lungs had stopped working.

Sensei thought that he was worse than the _Overlord_.

 _Shut up,_ the rational part of his mind scolded him. _He doesn’t have the full story—he wouldn’t if he knew._

Except, Sensei didn’t know. Neither did any of the others, who were now looking either angry or determined—ready to take down the monster.

Ready to take down _him_.

“Lloyd are you alright?” Cole asked, making Lloyd jump.

“I, uh—yeah! Fine,” Lloyd stammered. He wasn’t selling it, he could tell because Kai’s face had changed to concern— _he can’t know, they can’t know_ —so Lloyd deflected. “Worse than the _Overlord?_ ”

“Infinitely,” Sensei said grimly.

Right, okay, Lloyd—Lloyd couldn’t handle this. He started backing away, and then he was running, sprinting blindly without paying attention to where he was going. He heard a shout behind him—Kai?—but he didn’t slow, didn’t stop.

He had to get _away_.

Eventually, he found himself slowing. His lungs were burning, his chest heaving, and his hair had fallen into his face—he dropped to the ground, pulling his knees against his chest. 

_Don’t cry,_ Lloyd instructed himself. _Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry_ —

Tears were prickling his eyes, but it was too similar to the prickling enveloping his skin, the tiny pains that were coming from the sun. Lloyd sucked in a shuddering gasp, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes.

After a few moments, Lloyd realized that he was in the forest again. He didn’t have to look to know that it was the same spot as before—he could feel the gentle hum of the portal lying dormant beneath him.

“Lloyd?”

“ _Grandfather_ —” Lloyd yelped, jumping. He turned to find Kai walking up to him, concern evident in his entire posture.

Kai smirked, but it was the soft, sad kind of smirk that he made when he really didn’t mean it. He sat down next to Lloyd, arranging his legs criss-crossed on top of the worn blanket of dead leaves.

“It’s okay not to be okay, you know,” Kai said softly.

Lloyd blinked at him. “What?”

“With all of this,” Kai clarified. “The fighting and the constantly saving the world and such. It’s okay not to be okay with it.”

Lloyd stared at him. He was . . . oddly touched, by Kai’s words. Of course, the reasoning behind them was way off the mark, but Kai was _here_. Here for _him_.

Kai awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m here, ya know? If you need anything. I mean, the others are too, but I’m the least likely to try to get you to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Lloyd snorted softly.

Kai smiled one of his crooked little smiles. Then his expression softened, and he gently pulled Lloyd into a side hug. Lloyd was a little bit startled, but he let himself lean into it, resting his head on his big brother’s shoulder.

“We’ll get through this,” Kai mumbled into Lloyd’s hair. “We’ve beaten every baddie destiny has thrown at us, and we’ll take this one down too.”

Lloyd squeezed his eyes shut, now wanting to think about the implications of that sentence.

They sat there like that for a while. Eventually, though, Kai shifted, prompting Lloyd to pull away. Kai climbed to his feet, wincing slightly—it looked like he’d lost circulation in one of his legs.

“You wanna come inside with me, or do you want to stay out here a little longer?” Kai asked.

Lloyd had pulled his legs up against his chest again, and now he dropped his head onto his knees. “I’ll stay,” he said quietly. His voice came out steadier than he’d thought it would have, having been forced through the iron bands that were constricting his chest.

“Alright.” Kai paused, then added, “Don’t be too long. I’ll miss you . . . and I really don’t want you to freeze to death.”

Lloyd huffed out a little laugh, peeking up at his brother. Kai smiled at him, giving a dorky little wave before he started making his way back to the monastery.

Lloyd watched Kai until he was out of sight, then slowly uncurled, looking down at himself. He looked the same as he always did—Human, that is. But his skin was still tingling uncomfortably where the sun touched it, and the portal underneath him was humming in a way that he hadn’t been able to sense before.

He wasn’t human anymore. Not entirely, anyways.

And his family considered him a monster because of it.

 _I should just tell them,_ Lloyd thought. Rip the band-aid off, get them to understand that he _wasn’t_ whatever the heck Sensei’s source of information had painted him to be.

That he wasn’t a monster.

He really should tell them. But trying to even imagine how he would do so made him freeze, his blood turning to ice and his lungs tightening so much that he could swear that they were going numb.

He should.

But he couldn’t.

And maybe, if he played his cards right, he wouldn’t have to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued . . .
> 
> Lemme know what you think! :D

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!
> 
> I love comments/questions if you have ‘em  
> :)


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